Zdeno Chara of Boston, Erik Karlsson of Ottawa and Shea Weber of Nashville are this year's finalists for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman.

It marks just the third time in the past 14 seasons that Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom, a seven-time Norris Trophy winner, was not a finalist.

Chara led all defensemen and was fourth overall in plus-minus rating (plus-33) and recorded a career-high 52 points (12 goals, 40 assists) to rank fourth among defensemen. This is the fourth time in the past five seasons he has been a finalist. He won the award in 2009.

Karlsson had a breakout season, leading all defensemen with 78 points (19 goals, 59 assists) in 81 games. That was 25 more than any other defenseman -- the widest margin since Pittsburgh's Paul Coffey lapped the field by 38 points in 1988-89. At 21, Karlsson

is the youngest defenseman to notch as many as 78 points since Coffey has 96 with Edmonton in 1982-83.

Weber ranked sixth in scoring among defensemen with 49 points, including 19 goals, which tied Karlsson for first among defensemen. Weber led defensemen with 10 power-play goals. Weber is a Norris Trophy finalist for the second year in a row. He finished second last year to Lidstrom.

Lidstrom's chances to be a finalist faded when he suffered a deep bone bruise in his ankle on Feb. 25 and missed 11 games.

Lidstrom, last year's Norris winner, has been a finalist 11 times since 1998, finishing second three times (1998-2000) and third once (2009). He was not a finalist in 2004 (sixth) and 2010 (fourth).